The next review on Smokehouse Jerky Co. will be on a 3 ounce/84 gram bag of their Teriyaki flavored beef brisket jerky. This flavor is described as a salty sweet flavored jerky, with a glaze of teriyaki sauce made from choice ingredients, and it is blended with their old fashion recipe. The jerky was kindly submitted for review by one of the owners, Patti Fonseca.

This brisket cut of beef used is from cattle raised in California. Brisket is considered to be one of the best cuts of beef to use for jerky. The beef used is not guaranteed to be free of growth hormones or additional antibiotics. Also, the beef is not guaranteed to have at least partial free range access to graze on grass. As a result, the highest ingredient rating that can be awarded is a Good (8/10) rating.

The sugar level is high at 9 grams of sugar per 28 grams of jerky to lose a rating. For a sweet based flavor as we have here, our preference is 5 grams of sugar or less per 28 grams of jerky. The salt level is also high at 490 grams of salt per 28 grams of jerky to lose another rating. Our preference is 350mg of salt or less per 28 grams of jerky.

Taste Review

The strips are various in size, from small to medium to large, and are sliced to a medium thickness. This texture is more on the soft and tender side, being fairly easy to chew. As with the brisket cut of beef being used, the texture is sort of stringy. The aroma is a pleasant fruitiness.

The first tastes detected are saltiness, light garlic, light black pepper, sweetness, and a mild soy flavor. Sticking out is a moderately strong level of sweetness, which is arguably too sweet tasting. A good level of pineapple tanginess blends in nicely.

With this flavor being so sweet, a fair deal of the natural beef flavor is muted. The texture at times can feel slightly candied.

There is no disputing that this is an interesting take on a teriyaki flavor. It does manage to capture that classic tasting Japanese flavor, hitting on all of the notes, which also uses ginger.

Paul had similar sentiments with this to say: “The first flavors I detect are sweet, salt (mild), pepper (mild), and garlic (also mild). It does taste like a teriyaki flavor, but not as intensely as some other teriyaki flavored jerkies we have tried in the past. This one I find is too sweet tasting, it is masking most of the other flavors, including the natural beef flavor. Overall, a decent tasting teriyaki flavor, but sans the ‘wow’ factor, hence an 8/10 gentlemen.”

I do not quite agree that there is no ‘wow’ factor, it’s just that the sweetness tends to dominate in this otherwise great tasting flavor. We recommend this teriyaki flavor to fans of a traditional Japanese teriyaki style who enjoy an extra shot of sweetness.

This 3 ounce/84 gram bag of jerky sells online for 7.99. That works out to $2.67 an ounce, which rates as an averageprice. Commendably, free shipping is offered on all orders over $25.